The Adventures of the Muggleborn
by NaturalAthlete
Summary: Who ever said that muggleborns had to leave their old lives behind when they came to Hogwarts? No one, that's who! Truth be told, when you mix Muggle culture and magic together some crazy awesome adventures are bound to take place. Some students from a new batch of first-years are planning on taking Hogwarts by storm, and they're gonna make some grand memories in the process.
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A school for magic that's an ocean and a train ride away and-as far as Dyles knew-completely fictional. Yet there was his letter sitting on the counter top. At first he thought his friends were playing a prank on him, but-when he never replied to the letter-more of them began to show up. Eventually he realized that they were legit, and, by force (and little choice), he dragged his parents from America to the UK to buy supplies for the school.

The months leading up to his departure, Dyles had been devastated to be leaving his three best friends behind. He never told them that he would be leaving, and figured he tell them when he got to school, but turns out he hadn't needed to worry. When the fated day arrived he and his parents traveled to platform 9 ¾. After a heartfelt goodbye and promising countless times that he would write ever week, Dyles boarded the train. He began his search for an empty or nearly empty compartment, and was presently surprised when he found one. Inside were the three friends he had been dreading leaving behind. The four of them had been best friends and near neighbors since they could walk, so it was great to know that their little band was not yet going to be dissolved.

The train ride was long and filled with the fours different tellings of how they got their acceptance letter. Eventually the reached their destination and were hearded off the train. The sorting ceremony took place before the welcome feast, and began as soon as all of the first-years had arrived from their magical boat ride across the lake. The headmistress-an older woman by the name of Minerva McGonagall-stood at the front of the great hall. She looked rather confident, very stern, and her posture demanded respect, but she had a gentle and caring look in her eyes. She began calling up new students one by one placing the sorting hat on each child's head.

Dyles, as much as he tried, kept zoning out. He'd snap to attention whenever the hat called out "Gryffindor" or "Ravenclaw" or any of the other two houses, but he'd promptly go back to zoning out after that. The only times he'd really pay attention was when any of his friends were being sorted. First up was Chloe

Chloe Banshee was a very good example of a fan girl. She was a major dork and a bit of an airhead, but she was still smart and knew how to make the best of any situation. She was short and had somewhat childlike, innocent features, which Dyles was thankful for since it had gotten them out of many potentially disastrous situations. She had long curly hair that was the perfect blend of strawberries and blond, and she had a refreshing splash of freckles across her face. She was the type of person that if you hated her, Dyles would judge you.

"Hufflepuff!" The sorting hat yelled as applause sounded from the table of yellow. Chloe smiled before hopping off the stool and joining her new house at their table. After another handful of students another one of Dyles' friends was up.

Melodia Denali was her name, but she ONLY goes by Mel. She was the youngest of four and-much to Dyles surprise-she already knew about Hogwarts and it being not so fictional. Apparently she was a pureblood and for whatever insane reason her parents decided to raise her and her three older brothers in the Muggle world. Mel was brilliantly sinister, just like her brothers. Hector, the oldest, had started the Hogwarts Black Market his second year at the school and Mel would be taking it over as soon as the third oldest graduated at the end of the year. She had light brown skin and dark brown hair and eyes. She was definitely on the taller side, and a real force to be reckoned with.

"Slytherin!" the hat announced moments after touching the top of her poufy hair. Mel rose to her feet smiling as she gave a two fingered salute to the crowd before trotting off the table clad in green. Dyles couldn't help but smile knowing that Mel belonged in that house.

Next from there group was Dyles himself; Dyles Perdu. He's what you'd picture a typical white boy to be, just darker hair and dark blue eyes. He's a pretty athletic guy with a very chill attitude. He's that go-with-the-flow person; however he did know how to get serious when need be. He gets embarrassed over small things, which Mel loves to tease him about, but it usually never stops him from being adventurous and over all completely dorky.

"Gryffindor!"He heard as a mighty roar echoed around the room from his new family. He blushed slightly by the response, but was all smiles. He walked over to the table in a daze, more or less because he was still trying to process everything.

Last from their little band of four was Asher Techoni. He's what Dyles would consider a technological genius. The guy could work anything that had an electronic pulse. Like Mel, he admitted to knowing about Hogwarts existence. He was technically a half-blood, and his sister had been accepted when she was thirteen. They weren't actually sure if Asher would get a letter, because-unlike his sister-he hadn't shown any signs that he could use magic. When the letter did come he was ecstatic…until he remembered the no technology rule. Luckily that disappointment didn't last long. His sister quickly found ways to enchant all his tech to work on campus. Since that wasn't enough, he and his sister, Kasey, made plans to set up an undetectable Wi-Fi signal that would reach across the entire campus

"Ravenclaw!" Announced the old brown hat. No shocker there. Asher stood up walking over to his table, a small smile on his lips. Usually people with glasses weren't all that sinister, but Asher, although nowhere near as close to Mel, definitely was . He probably could have easily fit in with Slytherin, but his brains landed him in the house of blue.

Dyles, as well as everyone else, had to wait till all the first years were sorted before they could begin to eat. Frankly, Dyles didn't mind, he was just happy to be there. And the fact that Mel, Asher, and Chloe were there also? The four of them had caused their fair share of chaos back home and made some great memories in the process; he could only imagine what they'd do here.

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**Muggleborn Headcannon: **_Muggleborn best friends getting their Hogwarts letter and not being able to tell the others, but being ecstatic when they run into each other on the train. _

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**I feel like this chapter was really boring, but it gets better, i promise!**

**Also, if you have any headcannons, feel free to write them in a review or PM me.**

**if you want to do a collab with me for this story, just PM me. I'd love to write something with any of you. **

**Thanks for stopping in,**

**NaturalAthlete**


	2. Chapter 2: Don't stop Believin'

The gang were sitting at their respected tables, but they'd all easily found each other in the crowd. Every few seconds they would look up, catch the other's eyes, smile briefly, then look back down to their food. It was Friday afternoon and lunch break was in full swing. Mel sat at the middle of her table with two friends from her house. They-like her-were trying to hide their smiles, because they knew what today was.

Unnoticing, Mel typed out a message on her phone. Pressing the numbers till it said "Watch and learn." Yes, technically cell phones were illegal on school grounds (even the old, number pad phones), but Asher and Mel were brilliant when it came to getting around the rules. Mel-with the help of her underground market-was able to smuggle in some Nokia cell phones (which are indestructible not only to most physical abuse but magic as well), while Asher-with his knowledge of technology enchantments-used magic so the devices would work on campus. Each of the four friends had one, and they were enchanted so that only they could use them. If anyone else grabbed them, especially the teachers, they'd look and act dead. Just a piece of home that four muggle raised kids couldn't let go of.

"Now?" Ansley asked from her seat across from Mel.

"Not yet," she informed. "Two more minutes." Her friends went back to hiding their smiles.

Asher, Mel, Dyles, and Chloe had started a game back during their first year. The point of the game was to discern how many muggles raised kids were in the room. Chloe was the one who started it when she and some of her friends jokingly shouted out the first line of the Pokémon theme song and got about half the students in the great hall to join in. A week later, Dyles tried to counter by standing on the table with five of his friends and singing the Danny Phantom Rap. Mel went the week after, then Asher. Surprisingly enough, Dyles actually got the biggest response and won that month.

They'd made it habit to do this competition AT LEAST once a semester. Each goes a different week of the month and they can't repeat anything that had been done before. After the first few times, they had to start getting creative.

This month Mel had drawn the short straw. She had the last week of the month, which was on its final two days. Since Asher had officially emptied out the whole High School Musical arsenal the week prior, Mel decided to take it back a good couple of decades. She was certain that-no matter how old you were-if you were a muggleborn you would know this song. and she really needed a good reaction. As of now, Dyles was in the lead with his performance of "I'll make a Man out of You," from _Mulan_, and-despite though Dyles was her best friend-losing to a Gryffindor was still a major no-no.

"Okay, now." Mel said to her friends as she started the music. She'd used a spell that caused the music to amplify around the room and slowly the great hall grew quiet. Mel couldn't help but notice the confused looks on many purebloods and half-blood's faces, and the wide eyed recognition on so many other students face due to the oh so familiar tune of "Don't Stop Believing" ringing through the air.

Ansley and Nathan stood up together on their chairs and belted out the first lines.

_"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world. She took the midnight train going anywhere!" _By the time they started the next line a group from the Slytherin table had joined in. _"Just a city Boy! Born and raised in south Detroit. He took the midnight train goin' anywhere!"_

_"—A singer in a smokey room! The smell of wine and cheap perfume!"_ More than half the room had started singing by now, _"For a smile they can share the night. It goes on and on, and on, and on—" _Mel rose to her feet along with most of the crowd. She took note of the ugly glares her three friends were giving her from their respective tables, which only made her smile more. She shrugged her shoulder and gave them a gloating smirk then leaned back against the wall and watched the rest of the spectacle unfold.

By the time the first chorus came around it sounded like a party. People were up on their feet singing and overdramatically acting out the lines. The people not joining in were just looking around in confusion wondering if all the others had lost their minds. By the time the chorus came back around for the second time she'd turned off the music; it's not like anyone could hear it anyway. It was a deafening roar as people started into the _"Strangers Waiting, Up and down the boulevard—. " _The whole thing was absolutely fascinating. People were singing the journey song at the top of their voices not caring that they sounded like various dying animals. And then—

_"Shadows searching in the Niiggghhhtttt!" _ There was a two second pause of silence as everyone took a collective breath before screaming—

_"DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'! HOLD ON TO THAT FEELIN'. STREETLIGHTS, PEOPLE!—" _

People jumped by the sudden escaladed noise. Students rushed to cover their ears. They responded to the sound like kids reacting to the "coming soon" noise that played on those old DVR tapes. Mel had watch quite a few of those reaction video's on YouTube, kids scrambling to find a remote to silence the noise only to be unable to find it because the parents were holding it. Yeah that's what was happening here, except there was no remote, and all you could do was cover your ears and pray it ended soon. Mel wouldn't have been surprised if Hagrid could hear the choir of singers from his hut, that's how loud they were. She smiled, genuinely happy with the result, and pulled out her phone.

_"Best reaction? I think yes! Better luck next time."_ She texted

By the time the song finished the teachers had arrived and were frantically trying to quiet the crowd. After various passing minutes the crowd had settled and returned to their meals, but only after getting a good scolding on the disturbance they had all created. Naturally no one cared. The spectacle had been fun and was definitely something to write home about.

Mel, Ansley, and Nathan all sat back down sharing high fives.

"Another victory won guys." Mel hummed

"And another loss to Gryffindor." Nathan added

"Oh, I'll toast to that one." Ansley said holding up her soda filled goblet. Nathan and Mel held up their own and clanked the cups together in victory before returning to the remainder of their lunch.

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Muggleborn headcannon: _Muggleborns making a game of who can find the most efficient was to find all the muggleborns in the room. It all started with a joke when one kid screamed the first line of the pokemon theme song and got a reply from just about every muggleborn in the great hall. _

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**And there's the first chapter where they're actually doing something. I will always try to put what headcannon the chapters written off at the end of the chapter just like so ^.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed. This one was fun to write. **

**If you have a headcannon you want me to add to my list, write it up in the reviews or shoot me a PM. I'm also up to doing a collab. **

**Until next time,**

**NaturalAthlete**


	3. Chapter 3: Lava

It was a Saturday and it was late. Almost all of Hufflepuff students were out of the common room, in the Library, or cramming into the Room of Requirement with Asher who was screening a popular movie that everyone had voted on earlier that week. Chloe usually joined her house at that screening, but with Halloween just around the corner everyone had voted on a horror movie. Chloe did NOT do horror, apparently neither did some of the other Hufflepuff.

There was about six of them still on the common room. Two were obvious first years, one was Chloe's friend, Emily, who was a fourth year like her, and the other two were fifth or sixth years.

"This is boring!" Emily moaned twirling her brown hair around her finger, "we should do something."

"Like what?" Chloe asked.

"I dunno, but there's got to be something."

"Yeah, probably, but I don't really feel like leaving the common room."

"Then think of something we could do in the common room," Emily suggested. "You're usually the one who comes up with all the ideas. What did you do at home when you were bored?"

"Fanfiction," Chloe started, "Draw. Sleep. Write. I'd watch TV mostly, which is not all that active, but loads of fun."

"Anything else?"

"Hide and Seek?" the partial red-head suggested.

"Nah, there's not enough space as it is."

"What about 'the floor is lava?'" Both fourth years leaned forward and looked to the idea suggester. It was one of the first years who also looked just as bored and had been listening in on their conversation.

"What?" Emily asked wanting him to repeat himself.

"We should play the floor is Lava."

"What the hell is 'the floor is Lava?'" Zoe Bradley asked. She's been sitting across the room reading a book. She was a 6th year, hence the oldest in the room and most likely to get them all in trouble if they did anything wrong. Zoe was also a pureblood, which is why Chloe wasn't surprised that she didn't know what the childhood game was.

"It's exactly what it sounds like," Chloe went on to explain. "The floor is lava and if you touch it you die."

"But the floor clearly isn't lava."

"Use your imagination, Zoe," Emily teased." Actually no. Why use your imagination when you've got magic?" the first year's eyes went wide as did Chloe's

"Um, Emily—"

"Not real Lava!" she huffed noticing how everyone had taken her literally. "We could use magic to make a few pieced of furniture float, and make the ground more liquid-y. And-in order to make it more interesting-we can duke it out; the goal being to knock you opponents into the make-shift lava and be the last wizard standing!"

"Is this seriously a game you played growing up?" Cody asked. He'd been sitting off to the side watching everything quietly.

"Yes, it was, and still is. I played this with my cousins last time I went home." Chloe chimed, "We're just kicking it up a notch, but before we start," she turned to the first years, "What are your names?" Chloe made a habit to try to learn everyone's names.

"I'm Luke," the blond one who'd given them the idea said, "This is Kade," he continued motioning to his red haired friend.

"I'm Chloe, That's Emily, Cody and Zoe." She said pointing to each of them, "Now, let's get to work. Zoe, Cody, one or both of you work on the floor please. Emily and I will work on making levitating platforms.

"I never agreed to play this." Zoe huffed.

"Oh hush up, Zoe." Cody teased, "It's not like you have anything better to do, and I know you're curious, so come help me turn the floor to 'lava.'" The older girl rolled her eyes, but pulled out her wand and started chanting spells with the boy. Emily and Chloe went to work with the furniture, and the first years stood to the side and watched. When all was done two couches and various chairs were floating in place and a table was levitating around the room at a slow pace. The floor was squishy and moved around kind of like a waterbed.

"If you fall on the floor it's kind of hard to get back up, but the fall won't hurt." Cody explained, "So if you fall in, just wait till everything's finished and a winner is declared. The winner will help you get back onto one of the couches," He glanced to Chloe, "If I'm getting this right."

"Yup, that sounds about right," She confirmed. "Now for rules. I say we allow magic, but only minor effect spells that won't endanger anyone. You can only knock someone into the lava by pushing them in or by them falling in themselves. No levitating people into the lava."

"Sounds fair." Emily voiced from her position next to Chloe. "So…start?" Chloe stepped forward shoving her friend forward and off the couch. She shrieked slightly from the sudden attack before hitting the ground bouncing slightly

"Start, "Chloe agreed smiling as her friend glared at her from below. There was a mad scramble to get some distance between the others and when they stopped they all eyed each other suspiciously.

"_Paylos!"_ Zoe rolled to the side as a minor paralysis spell whizzed past her. Unlike the stronger version of the spell, paylos would only slow down the opponent and make it harder to move. Zoe rose to her knee and shot the spell back to its caster. Luke belly-flopped onto the floating couch to his right narrowly missing the counter.

"Nice reflexes, Kid." Zoe complemented. The first year just sighed giving his elder a shaky thumbs up.

"_Cunfundo!"_ Cody yelled flicking his wand forward. Chloe instantly formed a protective barrier around herseld, which ricocheted the spell back at Cody. The burnett, realizing what happened far too late, and failed to dodge-getting hit with his own dizzy spell. He spun around once before toppling over the edge of his chair and onto the floor. A few moments passed before he was back to normal.

"That's two for me!" Chloe cheered

"Not for long!" Zoe called out firing a dizzy spell. Chloe quickly side stepped, avoiding the spell; however, she tripped over a pillow in the process and flopping onto the couch. She scrambled to get to her feet, but Zoe was faster. She's hopped from her own couch across the room, over two chairs, and stood over Chloe before she'd even managed to get to her knees. Chloe tried to cast a spell, but Zoe nudged her over the edge before she could finish and the partial red-head fell to the lava next to Emily.

"How's it feel to join me in the pit?" Emily teased as Chloe struggled to a sitting position.

"I blame the overstuffed couch cushions." She grumbled.

"Blame it on whatever, "Cody said, "But just hush up. It's Zoe against the first years."

"My money's on Luke." Chloe said immediately earning a weird look from her other fallen house mates.

"Why's that?"

"Just a feeling." She sang. Honestly, no one knew how to play 'the floor is lava' better than a muggleborn and Luke seemed like the type of boy who played this game all the time growing up. As the three fallen challengers watch the battle ensue, Chloe's idea was proven correct. Luke hopped around the couches like a pro, avoiding spells and countering with the minimal magical knowledge he knew.

Eventually the two first years forged a plan. Kade-who wasn't as skilled as Luke-Became a distraction. He had good enough reflexes to avoid most of Zoe's attacks an keep her attention. Luke-on the other hand-had hopped onto the table as it passed and was riding it to the other side of the room. Zoe kept firing spells at the first year. The kid kept dodging and countering, but eventually he miss-stepped and a spell hit him dead on. He toppled into the lava soon after. Zoe didn't have time to celebrate, or react at all. As soon as Kade fell in, a dizzy spell hit her from behind followed by Luke rushing forward and pushing her off the couch.

"Called it!" Chloe cheered throwing both hands in the air and clapping for the victor.

"Impressive," Cody said smiling as he joined Chloe in applause.

"Yeah, real impressive," Emily called. "Now help me up! I'm going to destroy Chloe this round!"

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah!" Her friend threatened. "You are going down." Luke moved to help Emily back onto the couch, then helped Chloe as Emily tried to help Zoe. Eventually everyone was off the floor and standing on their own couch ready for round two but—

"What the hell is going on here?" The six lava fighters jumped in shock all turning to face the stairwell where two seventh years were standing. They both looked tired and had obviously been sleeping.

"Again I ask what you six are doing?" the angry black haired one asked after being met with silence. "So is no one going to answer?"

"The floor is lava." Luke finally answered, "Just kicked up a few notches." The second senior snorted and fell into a fit of laughter causing his friend to turn and stare in confusion.

"Ben, what the hell is 'the floor is lava?'" He asked as his friend recovered from his fit.

"It's a muggle game," The guy explained. "I use to play it all the time as a kid. I never through anyone would start up a game here." He stepped forward hopping onto the nearest couch. "Come on, Ralph, let's teach you the joy of a childhood muggle game."

"What?"

"The goal," Chloe started realizing they weren't in trouble, "is to be the last wizard standing. If you're knocked into the 'lava'" she pointed to the ground, "You're out till the next round." She cast a dizzy spell at the senior who was still standing on the stairs. He jumped onto the table as it passed to avoid getting hit. "Only minor effect spells allowed," Chloe added finally. The seventh year, Ralph, smiled back at Ben then to all the others in the room.

"Oh you are all going down!" He warned jumping off the table and brandishing his wand as round two began.

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**Muggleborn headcannon**: _Muggleborns playing 'the floor is lava' in their common rooms and enchanting the floors to act like a liquid so that they can have different platforms floating around. _

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**I'm gonna try to post one or two more tonight, just so I can get them out there. **

**Thanks for reading,**

**NaturalAthlete**


	4. Chapter 4: Behind the Black Market

"Hey Mel, you wanna do something after class?" Asher asked as the two of them walked through the halls. They both shared their first course on Thursdays so they walked together after breakfast.

"Sorry, I'm a bit behind on distribution," she answered somewhat absently, counting something on her fingers, "So I've got to—uh-you know." Asher rolled his eyes. They were only third years, but Mel already had an entire business running smoothly in the shadows. It was an "illegal" business, but no one seemed to care and the teachers never really noticed nor could they ever catch her. Mel had inherited the whole business from her brother who had graduated the year before her second year started. By the time she leaves her nephew should have already started school, and he will be taking over for her.

"It's a family business," she's told him once. "It will hopefully always be run by a Denali. The only other family line we would allow to run it is the Techoni family and a few others from Slytherin."

Asher had his own underground system, and Mel was his supplier and distributor. He and his sister had created the Hogwarts Wi-Fi signal that touched every part of the castle and about a mile into the forbidden forest. The system was great, but absolutely pointless with nothing to use it with. This is where Mel and Asher's "partnership" plays in. Mel smuggles in tech for Asher to enchant, and then she sells or rents it out on her market.

"I can help with distribution," He suggested. "If you're that far behind."

"It's not that," she mumbled. "I don't deliver anything unless you're in my house and I like you. People pick up their gear and pay me. The issue is that my owls were behind schedule. There was a major storm over the Atlantic and I don't want any shipments to get lost or damaged, not to mention the owls. I wouldn't force them to fly through that. So I'm behind because of a level four hurricane. I'm never behind schedule, but thankfully everything finally came in. Any later and I would have had to reduce the cost. As of now, everything's waiting in the room of requirement."

"Is it smart to leave your wares unguarded?"

"There's a security charm on everything. If someone is stupid enough to steal from me—well, no one's stupid enough to steal from me." She said with a small smile. Asher sometimes forgot how scary Mel could be because he never saw her darker side since they were friends. He was happy he'd never been on the other side of her wrath. People feared Mel, and she absolutely loved it.

"I'm so glad that I'm on your good side."

"It takes a lot to get on my bad side, Asher," she returned casually. "Anyway; I'm starting distribution after class. I had my sources put up the notice in the other house commons. The first pick up will be Slytherin and they'll come by after first class. Hufflepuff will be before lunch and Ravenclaw will be after lunch. Gryffindor will be at the end of the day after the last class."

"Why am I not surprised that Gryffindor is at the end of the list?"

"I'd be surprised if you had been surprised that they were at the end of the list," Mel hummed. "I know the whole house rivalry isn't as…extreme as it use to be, but it's definitely still there." She was smiling again as if the whole idea amused her.

"Do you usually distribute based on house?"Asher continued.

"Not really. Usually only when I really need order, like when I'm behind schedule, or I'm just in a bad mood. Anyway, I was gonna say that if you really wanted to do something you could come with me. My teachers never expect me during second hour on Thursday and I know how much you hate divination-"

"More than anything."

"So just come with me," She finished.

"Awesome!" He said excitedly. As much as he hated Divination he had the highest grade in the class (much to his housemates dismay) so if he showed up or not, his grade wouldn't suffer to horribly. He was planning on switch to study of Ancient Rune the next year.

Their first class was an elective-Care of magical creatures-which wasn't being taught by their usual oversized teacher, nor was it outside. They'd all been informed to report to one of the classrooms where they's be doing bookwork. They were going to be working with Firecrabs next so they had to learn the proper precautions before they could actually handle the beasts. This made things easier for Asher and Mel who no longer had to walk all the way back to the school from the fields.

When class eventually ended, the two were the last ones to leave and they quickly and unsuspiciously walked two the 7th floor corridor where the room of requirement was hidden away. The room was a lot harder to get into than most believed, but it always-without fail-showed itself to certain people. Mel was one of those people. Asher never understood why, but whenever Mel wanted to get into the Room of requirement, the door was already waiting for her.

Behind the door was a short corridor that led down to another door. It wasn't anything special, just a plain door, but behind it was a room the size of a small shop. Shelves lines the walls and baskets were on the floor. There were racks of cloths and looking around you could probably find anything you wanted in this place.

"You actually run this place like a store." Asher observed as Mel ran around and grabbed various items off the shelves. He'd never actually been to the store front; he usually just gave Mel anything she needed when they ran into each other.

"It was Patrick's idea."

"Second oldest?"

"Yup. We decided to mostly do pre-orders, but we stock this place because sometimes I'll just let people browse. You have to ask me first since I am the only one who can actually get to this specific room.

"Why is that?" Asher asked. "If the room reacts to whatever someone needs most, then why couldn't anyone reach this room if they—say-really needed" he looked around the room and grabbed something, "A—bath bomb?" he put the item back in its place.

"It's because my family has direct ties to this room," She said quickly like she didn't really want him to hear. "Hence, I have a little more say."

"What? Did your great-great-great-something help create this place?"

"Who knows," she hummed. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"You have got to be kidding me," Asher said deadpanned. Mel just smiled and pointed to a shelf.

"Grab the quill pens for me, will ya?"

"What?" he looked to the shelf where a mason jar with a multitude of feather sticking out the top was resting. He grabbed them and brought them over to the checkout counter where Mel had already collected an array of wares.

"I don't understand how you got all of this."Asher announced looking around the room again. "Seriously this is a lot of stuff." There were lego, race cars, cloths, and video games, rackets, fireworks. Honestly Asher wouldn't have been surprised if there was a trampoline in here somewhere.

"I did it for my brothers when they were here, now they do it for me. I've got people I can just write to and they'll send me stuff, but then there's stuff that only my brothers can buy and send in. They enchant the package so that they can fit the entire shipment in one load and make it look less suspicious, but I still can get two or three shipments in a day."

"It's fascinating."

"I'm sure, and I'd love to explain more, but someone's here." Asher turned around just as the door opened. In came five students all who looked older than he and Mel, and all who wore some article of green.

"Hello," Mel said casually as they all entered.

"Hey, Mel. We heard the shipment finally came in." the first announced

"I wouldn't have sent out the notice if it hadn't," She returned."You have your payment?"

"Naturally," He returned digging something out of his pocket. He dropped a bundle of green papers on the counter. "Fifteen dollars." Mel counted the cash, before plucking a quill from her jar."

"One enchanted quill." She said handing over the product, "all yours. It should last you till the end of the year and it won't run out of ink until it breaks. You'll know it breaks because the tip of the quill will snap off."

"Thank god!" he mumbled, "I'm so sick of having to dip my quill in ink every other sentence!" Asher hid his smile as the older Slytherin left the room. The next in line was a girl. She bought a pair of pajamas, but the soft, fluffy ones not the stiff, school issued ones. She paid in pounds, as did the girl who bought the brush after her. Next was a boy who bought a video game that he planned on flying home to his kid sister via owl. He paid with Galleons. The last customer of the bunch was definitely a seventh year, well; he looked like one to Asher.

"Brayden, how are things?" Mel said stacking three large boxes of lego up onto the counter.

"Fine. Perfect actually. I'm just glad the shipment finally came in. The hurricane over the Atlantic seemed to cause you some issues, yeah?"

"Please, don't talk to me about that. Biggest pain in the butt that mother nature, but a Denali always delivers."

"So these are the best you've got?" He asked

"Naturally. The best I've got, and discounted."

"It's discounted?" He seemed surprised.

"For you yeah. The others, probably not. I'm allowed to have favorites. Besides, it's the 7th year discount, and I really want to see this thing happen." She added smiling.

"Oh, it's happening," Brayden said. "Just you wait. The senior paid up then left with the three boxes of green and black plastic bricks.

"What the heck was that about?" Asher asked as soon as he had gone.

"What was what?"

"The thing with the lego?"

"Oh that," she returned like it wasn't completely obvious. She tugged at her ponytail looking like she was debating whether to spill the beans or not. "It's just something the seventh years are planning."

"And that something is?"

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." She said her previous smile returning.

"But what if I don't?"

"I mean, you might not find out before hand, but you will find out eventually."

"Just tell me, Mel!" he begged.

"What and ruin the surprise? No way. You'll find out when you find out."

"Fine, be that way." He huffed moving to change the topic, "I wanted to ask why you take different types of payment." He asked.

"Because people come from different places and it's pretty easy to exchange money." She replied, "I mean, how would a some pure blood or a half blood pay with pounds or dollars when they honestly don't know what those are, and how would a muggleborn pay in Galleons when they may not have had any knowledge of the wizarding worlds non-fictional existance before they got their acceptance letters? When you make an order you have to tell me what you're paying with so that I can convert the money and give you the right expense. Of course, I don't only accept money, sometimes I do an exchange if I'm presented with something good enough."

"So then that quill, is it actually worth 15 dollars?"

"What? Probably not, but it's popular and people still buy it when it's over priced."

"Well, anything to make money?" he hummed.

"You got it. Anything to make a profit."

Asher ended up helping Mel for the rest of the day, meeting her in the room of requirement between classes and helping her gather all the materials she needed for the next crowd of customers. A lot of the customers were sixth or seventh years who were buying one of her quills.

"Would you believe me if I said the quills are my best seller?" she asked between groups, "by fifth year people have waste so much money on ink and are so sick of having to dip it in the bottle every few sentences or spilling the ink in general that they will gladly spend money on an overpriced item that basically works just like a pen. It's less frustrating and faster, plus it's disguised." Mel really hadn't been lying because by the time the last house passed through only one of the forty-five quill pens were remaining.

Among the many things that had been sold that day, Asher noted that one seventh year from each house had come in to buy two or three boxes of lego in their house colors.

"Can you seriously not tell me what the lego are for?" Asher asked as they left the Room of Requirement for the night.

"I won't tell you, Asher," Mel said shoving her hands in her pockets. That was another popular item that she sold. It was a best seller right behind the quills. Skirts identical to the school uniform, but they have pockets that aren't noticeable unless they are being used.

"Please." He begged

"You'll find out eventually.

"But—"

"And just so you know, Slytherin is going to come out on top."

"On top of what!" Mel just smiled and jogged ahead of him towards the great hall. It was Dinner time and the smell of food got stronger the closer they got to the great hall.

"You'll find out eventual tech head," she called back as Asher began to chase after her.

* * *

**Muggleborn Headcannon**: _A group of students smuggle in a pack of pencils from home and sell them to the older students. They later realize that muggle items are popular and develop and entire underground system to distribute muggle wares. _

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**I hope you're enjoying the story so far. If you have any headcannons you thought of while reading this feel free to put them in the reviews or PM me. I'll write it down in my book of headcannons and maybe it'll show up here.**

**Until next chapter**

**NaturalAthlete**


	5. Chapter 5: Almost a Love Story

**Hey there. So it's been awhile, but i've had a ruff day, and my best method of escape is through writing so hey, i wrote another chapter. Here you go!**

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Almost a Love Story

"Valentine's Day is coming up," Dyles announced as he, Asher, Chloe, and Mel sat in the room of requirement. The room was set up like a lounge with couches and beanbag chairs. There was a TV and Mel had managed to sneak in a couple popular gaming devices (Hello Super Smash). Basically this was their hangout. It was always there whenever any of them wanted it.

"So?" Mel returned eyes scanning over her computer screen. She of course owned one of the illegal laptop distribute around campus, as did Asher.

"Should we do anything?"

"There's the Valentine's day ball," Chloe suggested. "We could all go together."

I've already got a date," Dyles announced, which was no shocker. He'd been dating the same girl since second year. They were the Hogwarts sweet-hearts and voted most likely to marry when they eventually graduated.

"I already have a date as well," Asher added.

"Wait, what!" Dyles hadn't been expecting that. He didn't think anyone had been expecting that! Asher was definitely attractive. He was tall with curly brown hair and grey eyes that never seemed dull, but the the genius was also very intimidating and could come on to strong sometimes.

"Leena?" Mel asked not even looking up.

"How'd you know?"

"We're fifth years, you should know by now that I have eyes and ears everywhere. I trade merchandise for info if it's good enough. I know everything that happens in the halls of this school."

"Of course you do." Dyles sighed.

"I also know that someone is planning an asking Chloe to the dance."

"Wait, seriously?" the partial red-head exclaimed hopping up from her seat, "Who?"

"As if I'd tell you and ruin the surprise!"

"You and your surprises," Asher huffed leaning further back into the chair. Mel simply laughed.

"Please tell me you're not still mad about the Lego thing!" she exclaimed. "It's been two years!"

"You could have told me!" he shot back.

"I have kept worse form you, Asher."

"You have?"

"Yup," she hummed as if it were no big deal, "I enjoy secrets which is why I will never give anything away for free, nor will I simply let people give it to me for nothing. Info is valuable and secrets are fun. I've had my fair share of them and I'm pretty good at keeping them as well."

"Oh we're aware," Dyles assured. They'd relied on Mel to keep plenty of secrets for them back home. She had the best poker face he'd ever seen. Mel could be hooked up to a lie detector and still lie her way out of a situation in order to keep a secret.

"So are you going to the dance?" Chloe asked.

"Probably not, why?"

"Did no one ask you?"

"I'm not big on parties, plus I'm busy."

"Liar," Dyles accused, a smug smile on his lips. He didn't believe anyone had asked her. Not to be rude, but he doubted anyone had the nerve to even approach her and ask. Asher could be intimidating every now and then, but Mel was a completely different level.

"Or I'm really not a party person," she hissed. "And maybe I really am busy. Since you don't know this-or obviously forgot-I'm always busy before any dance. Dances mean dresses. Dresses equal a lot of business. Business equates to me spending countless hours smuggling in the product. So-yeah-I've got my hands full."

"Yeah, _before_ the dance. You could still go to the dance after all the dresses have been brought in, but no one has asked you, have they?" Mel slammed her laptop closed glaring at Dyles. There was a venomous look in her dark eyes which froze him in place.

"I'm going to bed," she announced standing up and leaving without another word. No one said anything for a while after she left. Mel, as sinister and dangerous as she often came off as, was a calm and collected person and the group knew this so seeing her snap like that—

"She wants to go to that dance, doesn't she?" Dyles realized.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," Asher answered. "She might want to go, or she could just be frustrated. You should see how many people are trying to order dresses through her. The sheer amount isn't something any normal person should be able to handle on their own."

"Why does everyone order dresses through Mel?" Chloe asked. "There's a dress shop in town, isn't there?" Both boys raised a brow sharing a knowing look.

"The dresses from town are nothing compared to what you could get through Mel."

"So do girls just place an order with her?"

"Nah, that'd be way too much. It's a first come first serve for ten open slots. She'll fill the order of the slots as soon as she can, and as soon as one's filled it's taken by the next person on the waiting list. She also demands a deposit of half of the cost of the dress and then she requires the second half of the payment before she even hands over the dress."

"That sounds exhausting."

"Yeah, but she has a cutoff date, which is five days before the dance. That way she has enough time to get the remaining orders in. If you don't have a slot by the cutoff date then you have to find a dress else ware."

"Again, that sounds exhausting," Chloe mumbled. "I could never do that."

"I have no clue how she does it. I offered my help, but she didn't want it. She said that her brothers and she had a system and that outside help would only slow them down."

"Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy a dress in town?"

"Absolutely, but-again-anything you get through Mel will be ten times better than what you can buy in town," Asher continued to explain, "Which is why Mel gets the most gifts the weeks before any school dance. People try to bribe their way higher up onto the waiting list."

"So then she's just stressed?" Dyles asked. "It's not because she's not going to the dance?"

"Well, it could be both," Asher admitted. Truth be told, none of them ever really knew what was running through Mel's head. She was a hard person to read.

"Well, that's fantastic. Asher, you know her best, and even you don't know."

"Hey, you are both forgetting something," Chloe cut in. "There's still two weeks till the dance. Someone could still ask her."

"It is kind of late."

"I haven't been asked yet," Chloe reminded. "It's still a possibility. Anyway, it's late, I'm hitting the hay."

"Same here," Asher added.

"I guess I will too," Dyles said standing up. "Good night." He called as they all returned to their own dormitories.

The following morning Dyles met up with Mel after breakfast, as usual. They both had transfiguration first on Thursdays, and they always walked together. Dyles was being careful, he wasn't sure what was going through his friend's mind and he didn't want to step on a land mine.

"I'm not mad, ya know," she said after they'd walked half the distance in tense silence.

"W—what? Why would I even think you're mad?" He stuttered.

"You look nervous, Dyles, like I'm about to start yelling at you for breathing to loud or something. You're bracing yourself for impact."

"Oh…"

"I'm not mad, just stressed."

"Because of the dresses?"

"Well yes. Dresses and the O.W.L's. It's not like I'm worried about the tests, but right now it's just a shadow that's looming over my head and it's annoying."

"I suppose that's what the ball is all about; a relief from all the pressure. There're a lot of kids in my house who need to take a break. They're over working themselves for the O.W.L's and I'm worried they'll pop under all the pressure."

"Not sure that's physically possible."

"Mel, we go to a school for Magic, a lot of impossible things are possible here."

"Yeah… not everything," She hummed. "But you don't seem all that panicked by the exams."

"I'm pretty confident in my abilities…and Asher's tutoring."

"Right, I forgot. He's helping you and Chloe."

"Which is why we're not worried," he paused thinking it over briefly. "Well; it's why I'm not worried."

"Chloe's pretty smart. Don't underestimate her."

"So you're not worried at all?"

"Didn't I just say I wasn't?" she returned. "Besides, I'm confident that—ouf-" Her sentence was cut off as someone rammed into her causing both of them to drop everything they were holding. Dyles flinched, waiting for Mel to chew out the reckless indavidual who'd scattered their belongings, but it never came. Instead she dropped to her knees gathering all her books.

"Sorry," she mumbled softly as the black haired teen also dropped to his knees to help.

"I should be the one apologizing. I ran into you."

"Well, yeah—but still, sorry." They both stood up together exchanging the books that weren't their own. The boy was a few inches taller than Mel with short, straight hair and a tie that clearly showed he was a Slytherin.

"My name's—"

"Sullivan Maverick. I know," She said a small smile on her face and what Dylan refused to believe was a blush, "I'm—"

"Melodia Denali. I'm aware." Again, Dyles flinched, waiting for his friend to bite the freckle faced slytherin's head off, but it never came and Dyles did not understand why. No one ever called Mel by her first name, _ever. _Her friends didn't even risk it so the fact the she was just smiling after being called by her full name. Something was definitely wrong.

"Sorry for running into you," Sullivan said again. "See you later?"

"Hopefully," she returned, her small smile growing a little bigger.

"Are you okay?" Dyles asked as soon as Sullivan had gone.

"Fine, why?" she hummed smiling to herself. That wasn't good. Mel only smiled to herself when she was plotting something. Right now she was just smiling.

"Are you sure you're fine?" he asked again as they continued to class.

"I swear if you ask me that one more time—"

"Alright. Alright. I get it! You're fine!" he exclaimed, hands up in surrender. "Let's just get to class before we're late." They picked up the pace making it to class with plenty of time to spare and found their seats. Almost immediately Dyles noticed the same Slytherin from the hall sitting a few rows ahead of them. Unfortunately, Mel had noticed too.

All throughout class Dyles took note of how many times his friend glanced over to Sullivan. It was thirty in the first half and forty-five in the second. He was pretty certain that she hadn't even been paying attention to most of the lecture, which is why-before they let out-Dyles send a text to the other members of the gang.

_Emergency meeting in RoR. Something's up with Mel and I can't figure out what._

He received to confirmation replies soon after and when they were dismissed he packed up his belongings, as well as Mel's, and practically dragged her from the room.

"Melodia!" Dyles flinched more than Mel. There was a reason she never let anybody call her by that name-a really damn good reason-and whoever that Sullivan guy was, he had no right to call her that.

"Sulli, hey," Mel said waving as she tried to pull loose, but Dyles pushed her out the door before him, turning on Sulli who was trying to follow them out.

"_Never_ call her Melodia," he hissed before continuing on his way. Dyles had to drag Mel to the 7th floor corridor. He had long since blocked out her complaining about how he'd been "so rude" to Sullivan or how he needed to "apologize immediately."

Dyles was the last one to arrive. He entered the room, which had taken the appearance of their usual hang out, and tossed Mel forward onto the couch.

"You look pissed," Asher noted, but Dyles ignored him

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He yelled.

"Nothing," she sang nonchalantly. "I already told you that."

"If nothing was wrong then Sullivan Maverick would already be in the hospital wing for using your full name. No, instead he's still walking around even after calling you Melodia, not once, but TWICE!" Dyles held up his hand catching the pillow just before it hit his face. It was a really good thing that there was nothing deadly resting around Mel, then again, she could easily make a pillow deadly.

"_Never_ call me that," She shot the usual venom returning to her eyes only to fade away moments after.

"So then why can Sullivan Maverick call you that and I can't?"

"First of all, he goes by Sulli, not Sullivan. Second, you're not him."

"Oh? Then what is he?" Dyles demanded his anger visible in every way, shape, and form, "Is he so much better than your best friend since pre-K?"

"Well, _he's_ cute, and he doesn't yell at me like you are right now!"

"Cute?" Chloe cut in disrupting Dyles rage. "Did she just call someone cute?"

"He is cute. Have you seen his eyes? They're the color of the oceans off of Maui on a perfect day,"

"Mel—"

"Sulli's perfect in general. I wonder if he's dating anyone? Hey, maybe he'll have lunch with me!"

"Okay, I'm confused," Chloe confessed. "This is not our Mel. What happened to our Mel?"

"You see the emergency!" Dyles grumbled.

"Guy's you're over reacting," Asher assured wearing an amused smile, "This is our Mel, but—" he held up his hand asking for a moment. He turned to Mel who was smiling into a pillow, "Mel, how do you feel about Sullivan?"

"Oh, he's perfect and I love him," she answered in all seriousness, "I really love him and I'll cry if he's already dating someone. I hope he asks me to the dance, that'd make my life." Dyles and Chloe looked to Asher for an explanation as to why their typically terrifying friend was acting all ditzy.

"Yup, definitely our Mel, but this is our Mel under the influence of a love potion." Chloe's jaw dropped, meanwhile Dyles expression turned into a devious grin.

"How did that happen?" Chloe gasped.

"She just had to consume it somehow. She probably drank it at breakfast. Those potions are fast acting."

"And Sulli's the one who gave it to her?" Dyles asked

"I'd assume so since that's the guy she's head over heels for. Lucky for all of us, I've got an antidote. We've been working on crafting them in potions, and our teacher gave us each some 'just in case' since Valentine's Day approaching."

"Oh, Sulli is a dead man." Dyles declared, "And I wanna know what Mel plans on doing to him." All three teens shivered at the thought of being unfortunate enough to be on the receiving side of Mel's wrath.

"You should probably warn him before hand," Asher informed pulling a glass vial from his bag.

"Now why would he do something as silly as that?" Chloe asked. "You mess with a snake and it's gonna bite. Mel is not the right snake to mess with and this Sulli guy needs to learn that lesson on his own." Asher smirked at his friend's response. As much as they came off as nice people, all three of them had a little bit of Mel in them, and when you mess with their friend, you pay the price.

* * *

"What the hell happened?" Mel hissed sitting up on the couch. She felt like death. She felt like she could kill death. She-suffice to say-was not happy. Immediately she realized that she was in the room of requirement, but Dyles was the only one in there with her.

"Oh good, you're awake," he chimes looking happy, but not his usual goofy happy. It was more like an I've-been-waiting-for-this-moment happy.

"What happened?" she asked again a tone sharp enough to cut steel

"First, what's your opinion of Sullivan Maverick?"

"Slightly taller than me with black hair, right? Slytherin? Why does it matter?"

"Do you remember anything?" Dyles asked.

"It's all kind of blurry, but I do remember being stick to my stomach because—Oh. _Oh_!

"You remember?"

"He spiked my drink!" she exclaimed venomously, "And with a love potion! Oh god, did I tell him I loved him?"

"You didn't tell _him_, but you confessed to Asher, Chloe, and me a few times."

"He called me by my full name!" she hissed. As of now, Mel was death. Drape a cloak around her and hand her a scythe and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. She was giving off such a strong aura of that you'd probably think a Dementor was roaming the halls until you rounded the corner and spotted Mel

"He called you it twice," Dyles added feeding fuel to the fire. "So how dead is he?" Mel didn't say anything. She smile; cold and cruel. It was something that Dyles had seen before but it still scared him senseless. He always felt a little sorry for whoever had managed to get her into this mood.

"What's the time?"

"We have a free period for lunch, but Asher was tailing you're friend and he's in your common room right now." Mel said nothing as she left the room. People steered clear of her as she passed fully aware that something was wrong and to stay out of her way. Frankly Mel wasn't sure what she was feeling. She was incredibly angry, but also slightly impressed; however, Sulli had crossed the line. She had no clue what she was going to do to him, but she wanted to make sure she would enjoy it.

She made her way down to the dungeon pausing only when Asher stopped her and reminded her to not kill the kid. She reached the entrance spoke the password then entered the Common room.

The entire place had a greenish hue to it and an ominous feeling, something that fit the residence. The room wasn't full at the moment; there were only about twelve people in there, but the only person Mel cared about was Sulli. He was leaning against the far wall talking to two of his friends. She stood in the entrance, watching him, trying to figure out his punishment. Eventually she stepped forward, eyes never leaving him. By then people had picked up on her presence and could clearly see something was not right.

"OUT!" Mel yelled her voice echoing around the stone room and silencing every voice. Everybody froze in their place, and she notice, "Everybody out!" She ordered again eyes scanning over every student, "_Now!_" They all got the message that time everyone rushed for the exit, everyone except for Sulli. He knew better than to run.

It was true that Mel was only a fifth year, but she had the respect of everyone in her house and a reputation that the whole school was aware of. Mel was a Denali, and Denali's are terrifying. People pray to never be on their bad side, and when any of them are visibly mad you get away, and you get away fast. So when Mel wanted people out, not even the seventh years hesitated to get the hell out of there.

It didn't take long for Mel and Sulli to be the only two students in the room.

"Melo—"Sulli flinched and wimpered as a spell narrowly missed his head. He hadn't even heard Mel speak a spell.

"Never call me that." She hissed enough venom in her stare to kill an elephant in one second flat; however, her tone was void of any feeling.

"How did you—"he stopped realizing this was the wrong time for stupid questions, so he tried something else. "What are you going to do to me?" It was so obvious that he was trying to act brave. Mel saw straight through it and she smiled her eyes as cold as the arctic.

"I'm not sure," she admitted, "But I could tell you what my brothers would do if they ever found out," she chimed. Sulli shivered under her gaze. He was taller, yes, but Mel was still looking down on him, making him feel small, "It wouldn't be anything pretty, I can assure you of that." She assured taking one step closer.

"Okay, I get it!" he exclaimed, "I screwed up, just get it over with."

"I would, but I'm not my brothers. I wanna know why."

"Why what?"

"A love potion? You would only risk that with someone like me if the benefits are greater than anything that I could do to you."

"I don't—"another spell narrowly missed his head as Mel dropped her wand to her said. Again, Sulli hadn't heard her mutter a word.

"I won't miss next time, Sullivan, and I'm losing my patience."

"Fine," he muttered, "FINE! Just don't kill me, okay?"

"I'm waiting." He glanced around the room as if he thought someone would actually risk listening in.

"It was a bet," he finally admitted. "100,000 Galleon if I could get you to go the Valentine's Day Ball with me. I was going to ask you after class, but your friend dragged you away before I could. He snapped at me before he left and I knew I was screwed."

"At least you know when you've lost," she huffed crossing her arms, "but I'd never date you, or go to the dance with you."

"Why? Is it because I'm a half blood? Because I'm below a pureblood like you? Because you're heartless?" Mel laughed shortly before stepping forward and shoving Sulli to the wall, pinning him there.

"I'm not heartless, Sulli. I've been through hell and back-I learned how to hide a lot of things-but I'm not heartless. You're also not below me, nor do I care about your blood status. You could be a pure blood and I still wouldn't consider ever going out with you simply because you're a coward," she spat.

"I'm not a coward," he said firmly, but Mel still heard the quiver in his voice.

"You're not? Oh? Well that changes _everything. _Since you're obviously not a coward, why don't you explain to me why you didn't just ask me to the dance?" Mel wasn't all that mad anymore. She'd blown most of it off at the start, but she didn't want Sulli to know that, "I'm a conman, Sulli. You could've just asked me and I honestly would have said yes. Instead you decided the better option was to spike my drink with a love potion. And you say you're not a coward?"

"I'm not," he mumbled as Mel stepped away from him.

"I don't believe you."

"Can we just get this over with?" he asked.

"Well, where's the fun in that?" Mel asked turning her back on him. "I'm going to take my time. Strike when you least expect it. This way you'll always be glancing over your shoulder because I don't want you to forget what you did, and—"Mel turned back to face him realizing that he was already moving towards her. Before she could react Sulli grabbed the side of her head and gently pressed his lips to hers. Mel didn't move until Sulli stepped away. He'd hovered inches from her, eyes locked on hers.

"I'm not a coward," he said softly. "And I'm sorry for what I did," then he stepped away. Mel smiled, she couldn't help it.

"If you were anyone else, you'd be crying on the floor right now." She informed no longer mad, just...amused.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" he asked looking nervous and confused. Mel was certain he wasn't expecting the reaction she gave. He probably had been expecting a visit to the hospital wing himself, but he was still standing and definitely still breathing.

"It means, Sullivan, that you better find a damn good way to ask me to that dance," Mel informed turning on her heel leaving him on his own to think over her words.

Outside the common room the crowd of twelve had tripled in size. Two of the 7th years had been guarding the doors keeping everyone out, but they moved aside when they heard Mel emerge. They certainly couldn't tell what she was smiling about, but after witnessing the pure rage she had when she'd arrived no one was sure if they wanted to go into the commons and see her aftermath.

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**And there you have it! there's chapter five! if you like Doctor Who, i think you'll like the next chapter, but before that i'm going to post a little info page. **

**Thanks for reading**

**NaturalAthlete**


	6. Chapter 6: Don't Blink

**Happy Sunday! Finally got around to typing up another chapter. Hope you enjoy, it's got theme that a lot of you may recognize. **

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**Chapter 6: Don't Blink**

It was pretty late on Thursday as Mel and Sulli walked down the hall back towards their common room. The curfew was coming fast, the halls mostly empty and growing dark, illuminated only by the few torches lining the walls. Most of the paintings were already asleep, so the two housemates chose to move quickly and quietly.

"I never realized how empty the halls get around curfew," Sulli commented looking around as they walked

"What were you expecting?" Mel asked. "Halls full of partying students?"

"Well-no-but it almost makes the castle feel haunted."

"The castle _is _haunted, genius," she informed. "In case you forgot, we have a good many ghosts wandering these halls."

"Well-yeah-but that's not haunted, it's more like a friendly residence. When I say haunted, I mean-"

"You mean Hollywood haunted." she finished. "Two kids alone in a creepy dim hallway with ominous music in the background. They're both out after dark-probably sneaking around when they're not supposed to-and the odds are only one of them will make it through the night."

"Okay, three things about that statement," Sulli said holding up three fingers. "First, there's no music. Second, you said that _way_ to seriously. And third, what's a Hollywood."

"Hollywood is the American movie making central. Most of the movies Asher streams are made and produced in Hollywood or by Hollywood producers."

"Okay, so back to the whole 'you said that way to seriously' thing. Were you trying to be funny, cause you said that with a straight face and a sinister gleam in your eye."

"Don't be silly that's my resting face."

"It is not!"

"Okay, maybe it's not, but there's no music, so don't worry. Usually all the issues start because the couple heard a scream and went to investigate."

"The couple?" Sulli repeated a goofy grin on his face.

"Shut up." Mel wiping away his grin with a swift jab to his side.

"Ow! That wasn't-" a loud wail of terror echoed down the halls cutting Sulli off and bringing both 6th years to a halt.

"Well, there's no music," Sulli pointed out as the scream sounded again.

"Should we investigate?" Mel asked

"But you just said-"

"I know what I just said, but this is Hogwarts, not a haunted mansion!"

"But-"

"Don't tell me you're scared!" she teased.

"I'm not!"

"Good, then let's go!" Mel ran ahead not bothering to check if Sulli followed. She wasn't one to scare easy; however, being put on edge was something entirely different. There were plenty of things that made Mel nervous, but she was good at hiding it, and right now, she was doing just that.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Sulli called out as the took another turn. There was another scream, closer this time

"I'm following my ear," she admitted, taking off again. They ran down a few more hallways before coming to a stop. They'd found the source of the screaming. Huddle against the wall next to a desk was a boy with blond hair who looked paler than the ghosts of Hogwarts. He was shaking so much that Mel could see it from a distance, but why he was like that she had no clue. Looking up and down the hall she saw no evidence that would explain what had scared the kid so much, so what had happened?

"Watch my back, Sulli," Mel ordered crouching down next to the kid. She gently touched the boys shoulder trying to get his attention, but he tensed up and screamed.

"Hey, it's okay," she said softly, trying to comfort the boy, "Nothings gonna hurt you."

"Mel? Sulli?" Mel looked up the hall as Dyles jogged up, "What are you two doing here?" he asked, "and have you seen-" he noticed who Mel was crouching down next to and his eyes went wide, "Christopher!" he exclaimed. The boy looked up immediately recognizing Dyled and scrambled to his feet throwing his arms around the older boy and holding on to him like it was the only thing keeping him alive. "What happened?" Dyles asked looking between the two slytherins for answers.

"Dunno," Mell replied, "Sulli and I were walking back to the Commons from the library when we heard someone screaming. We ran to investigate and found him huddled against the wall. We only got here a minute before you."

"Well, Christopher's a bit of a scaredy cat," Dyles admitted with a sigh, "He's a muggleborn, first year too. He's still adjusting to the place and is prone to getting lost. I'm his 'big brother' I'm trying to help him adjust and show him the ropes, but he never came back to our commons so I went looking for him."

"A Gryffindor being afraid?" Sulli smirked only to be elbowed in the side again by Mel.

"What I want to know is why he was so scared," Mel commented. "That was paralyzing fear. There are very few things at Hogwarts that can do that to a kid no matter how much of a scaredy cat they are." They all looked to the first year who wasn't shaking as badly before, but had yet to loosen the death grip he had on Dyles shirt. Carefuly Dyles pryed him off and knelt over so they were closer to eye level.

"Christopher, can you tell me what happened?" he asked. "Please I need to know." he added when the blond continued to stare at the ground and shake his head.

"T-they were chasing me," he finally managed in a tone barely audible.

"Who was?" The boy looked around as if someone would hurt him if he talked.

"T-they were a-angels."

"That doesn't make any sense, Chris, Did someone attack you?"

"Not someone, something." Dyles, still confused, looked up to his companions for their opinion only to stumble away, wide eyed as he brandished his wand and pointing it at the two Slytherins.

Sulli and Mel didn't bother to question it. They'd been there long enough to know that when someone aimed there wand out of panic, especially a friend, it probably wasn't at you, but what was behind you so they both quickly turned around, wands drawn.

"What the-"

"Oh no." Mel tightened her grip on her wand her heart skipping a beat. Standing before them was an angel-a stone angel-with it's face hidden behind it's hands.

"Mel, what the hell-"

"Weeping Angels?" she suggested glancing quickly toward Dyles

"Shit-" he huffed slowly rising to his feet. "This is a sick joke."

"Someone want to explain what's going on?" Sulli asked clearly not understanding why the two teens were freaking out over a statue. He glanced over his shoulder jumping back in alarm, "and why another statue just appeared behind us!"

"I'll watch this one," Dyles informed. "Mel you take the one behind us."

"Got it." she turned around. The one that Sulli had noticed was taller than the other and was no angel. It was a wizard and it wasn't even bothering to hide it's face. It just looked happy, but it was a creepy happy.

"Seriously, what's going on?" Sulli asked again. "Mel, talk to me."

"It's a cruel joke by some Whovians, no doubt," she growled. "One that will probably lead to suspension or worse." This was not something she had wanted to deal with.

"Whovi-what?"

"You think Chloe had anything to do with this?" Dyles asked.

"I doubt it. Those episodes terrified her. The real question here is how accurate are these things?"

"I don't want to find out," Dyles admitted. "Christopher, we're leaving. Do me a favor and climb on my back." The first year nodded climbing up on his seniors back and wrapping his arms around his neck.

"I still don't know what's happening!" Sulli exclaimed clearly getting frustrated, "Or what's putting you all on edge."

"The statues are putting us on edge," Dyles explained. "They're replicas from a show called Doctor Who. The Weeping Angels are an ancient alien race that-if they touch you-can send you back into the past so they can feed on the energy of every lost moment you would have in the present."

"So these things will toss us into the past?" Sulli asked horrified by the revelation.

"Probably not," Mel answered. "Replicas or not, there is no student who can create a statue that will blast you into the past. They only move when no one's looking, but they move really fast, so...don't blink."

"Are they really that scary?"

"These ones might not be, I don't know. Do you really want to risk it?"

"How many are there?" Dyles asked still facing the angel.

"Just these two for now. Who knows how many there really are." Mel replied, " We need to start moving. Dyles you go first, sneak past the wizard. Sulli you watch the angel, and don't blink." Mel kept her eyes on the Wizard as Dyles krept past. When he was on the opposite side he had a clear view of both statues and gave the all clear for the others. Mel immediately grabbed Sulli's hand and pulled him down the hall.

"I've never seen you this freaked out before," he whispered.

"Yeah, well you've never seen the episodes. Remind me to play them for you if we get out of this"

"If?"

"Mel, where are we going?" Dyles cut in

"Our Common rooms are too far apart, and I'm not leaving you on your own with a first year-" she stopped noticing a movement from the corner of her eyes. She checked quickly only to find nothing. "I say room of requirement."

"Works for me."

Mel took the lead, guiding the group through the halls to the 7th floor corridor. Dyles was in the center and Sulli took the rear walking backwards to keep an eye on anything behind them.

"This is stupid!" he called

"Just wait till you watch the episodes."

"There's nothing here."

"That means we're doing out job right!" Mel replied

"Couldn't we just make a mad dash to the room?"

"That would be Dyles choice since he's the one carrying another human being. I doubt we would make it if the statue's speed lives up to those in the show."

"I could run, just not that fast," Dyles explained.

"So on we walk."

"Fine, but there's nothing here." They continued up the levels until they reached the sixth floor. Mel stopped first, followed by Dyles, and Sulli bumped into him since he was walking backwards.

"Why'd we stop?" he mumbled walking up to Mel only for his mouth to drop. The hall leading to the stair they had to take-which lead to the level where the room of requirement was hidden-was lined with statues.

"That's a lot of marble," Sulli whisled. "Are there usually this many?"

"No, there's about half the amount on a regular day."

"Is there a way around them?"

"Yes, but that would involve us going all the way back to the fourth level. It's not worth the risk."

"Are you sure about that?" Dyles asked.

"Yes, and," she looked to Christopher who'd kept his head barried on Dyles shoulder since they started, "we're going to need his help."

"That's not a good idea, Mel." Dyles warned, but Mel gave him one of her 'shut up' looks and continued.

"Christopher, we can't do this without you. I know you're scared, I'm scared to, but we need to be brave, okay? Sulli, Dyles and I are all sixth years, we won't let anything happen to you." She said as comfortingly as she could. The blond's response was to hide his head further behind Dyles shoulder. Mel wouldn't have any of that.

"Christopher, look at me," she ordered. The boy did as told his light blue eyes glossy with the first signs of tears, "You're a Gryffindor, right? If you weren't brave would you have been sorted into that house? Dyles called you scaredy cat earlier, but I don't think that's true."

"But-"

"I think you're the bravest member of that house and you're scared people won't like you for being braver than they are so you pretend to be scared of everything. You don't have to be afraid in front of us. we won't hate you," Mel looked to Dyles wordlessly asking to put the first year back on the ground. Christopher didn't protest as his feet touched back down on solid ground.

"So you'll help?" Mel asked.

"Y-yes, I will," he told her. His voice was shaky, but Mel could see him trying to not cry and that was enough.

"And you said he was a scaredy-cat." Mel teased tossing a gloating smile in Dyles direction.

"So what's the plan?" he asked ignoring the taunt.

"We hold hands. Form a square, and hold hands. We can walk across the hall with one person looking in each direction.

"What could go wrong?" Sulli mumbled sarcastically.

"Hopefully nothing." Mel shot annoyed by his sassy reply, "I'll take the front, Christopher will take the right, Sulli's on the left and Dyles takes the rear.

"I like that plan," Christopher said quietly slipping his hand into Mel's. She smiled down at him before taking Sulli's hand. They were linked up in moments and slowly moving across the room.

"Don't blink." Mel reminded every now and then as they moved. They were about halfway across when thinks went wrong. Dyles-being the minor clutz he was-tripped over his own feet knocking the others over like domino. Mel was the first to recover-keeping the few statues that had begun to move at bay as well as she could.

"Run!" she ordered realizing that getting into formation again would be useless. Dyles yanked Christopher to his feet and sent him running ahead following in tow. Mel tailed Sulli who was ahead of the pack. Mel had no problem keeping up, in fact she ran ahead to the stairs so she could make sure the way was clear and then keep the statues behind them away.

She hit the first step and stopped. There were no statues on the stairs, which was good. She turned back to the group ready to help only to hear a whimper and a loud thud.

"Christopher!" Dyles yelled. He was to far away to help the fallen first year. There was a statue moving towards the blonde clearly not caring that all three six years were staring straight at it and it's target was Christopher. The tall shadow of the old marble man fell over the first year who tried to move but simply couldn't. It didn't seem like anyone else could either. They all just stood there not sure what to do as the statue reached down towards Christopher

"_Confringo!" _A blast of orange light sailed from Mel's wand hitting the statue square in the chest knocking it back and blowing it into little pieces in the processes. The light from the explosion seemed to knock mobility back into everyone and Dyles rushed forward to grab Christopher while Sulli moved back towards Mel. Dyles didn't even bother put his first year back on the ground and just dashed up the stairs with him in his arms. None of them stopped until they'd reached the room of requirement.

The room had taken the form of their usual hangout, and when all four were safely inside they collapsed onto the couches. Christopher, who'd been exhausted by the running and fear, quickly passed out on the couch, everyone else stayed awake.

"You blew up Dumbledore," Sulli declared suddenly after the shock of the situation faded and their breathing evened.

"What?" Dyles asked sitting up.

"The giant statue was Dumbledore! Mel, you blew up Dumbledore!" Sulli exclaimed louder.

"Good," Mel shot, "I never liked him anyway."

"What? how could you not like Dumbledore?" he gasped, horrified.

"Because, according to the books, he left Harry with the Dursleys. There is _never_ a reason to leave a child with an abusive family," Mel explained. "The kid just defeated the dark lord, you really think there wasn't one other family who would have happily taken him in?"

"I never thought about it like that."

"No one ever does." Dyles said with a smirk, "But it's a valid reason."

"It's a good reason!" Mel returned standing up. "Now, I know that I have a laptop in here so get ready to watch a little bit of Doctor who." she glanced to Sulli with a devious smirk, "then you'll understand why I was so freaked."

* * *

Sulli, Mel, Dyles, and Christopher had stayed the night in the room of requirement. They didn't want to risk going out again so they stayed till morning when the halls would be more crowded. Dyles took Christopher back to the Commons, but Sulli and Mel went straight to the grand hall for breakfast. As they walked they took note of the crowds of students trying to figure out what happened on the sixth floor and why there were shards of statues scattered everywhere. Other than that their walk consisted mostly Sulli declaring how creepy the weeping angels were and wondering what kind of mad man could come up with such a concept.

At the table none of their housemates made note of the two sixth years disappearance the previous night. Mel was certain that they had all noticed, but they just didn't want to point it out, which was smart on their part. When most of the houses had arrived in the hall, McGonagall approached the podium and she definitely didn't look happy.

"It has come to my attention that some students thought it would be funny to play a prank on the school," she began. "Animating the statues around the school was not clever in anyway, nor was giving them the ability to apperate any person they touched into the lake appriciated. Please know that this behavior is absolutely unacceptable and if this ever happens again, we will find who is responsible and they will be suspended, or worse." she said with a smile making it clear that she was in no way amused by the situation and wouldn't have any issue expelling any students sorry butt if something like this was ever attempted again. "All the moving statues have been immobilized and will not move on their own again. That's all."

"I take it that we weren't the only ones to run into the weeping angels last night," Sulli said under his breath. "and it's a good thing they didn't catch us."

"And why's that?"

"Mel, if you got dumped into the lake because of a prank, the students behind this would be fearing things worse than expulsion."

"But we don't know who was behind the prank," Mel reminded innocently.

"Like that would stop you." he huffed. You've got an entire underground network at your fingertips. it would take you less than an hour to find the culprit.

"I would have their names in fifteen minutes" she corrected, smiling as she scanned over the room, "Ten, depending on how desperate certain people are." One or more of those faces had just escaped from the clutches of a monster. They had no clue how close they'd come to fate that would have had them begging for expulsion.

* * *

**And there you have it! Chapter 6 is complete! I hope you enjoyed! If you did TELL YOUR FRIENDS! the more posative feedback i get the more i'm motivated to write so don't hold anything back...heck i'll take negative to if it means that i get better a writing and that you all are happy. **

**On that note, you got to see a little bit of Mel's softer side. Of course she's still a dragon on the inside and you should never get her mad, but she's not evil; at least not dark lord evil. **

**Friendly reminder that if you have any headcanons you want ot give me, shoot me a PM or write it in a review. I'll add it to my handy book of headconons and maybe you'll see it eventually.**

**Thanks for swinging by,**

**NaturalAthlete**


	7. Chapter 7: Here comes a Lion

_Nants Ingonyama bagithi baba!_

_Sithi uhm ingonyama_

The room shook with vibrations as Asher shot up in bed. The room around him was blurry but he could still see the blurred movements of his roommates as they were shocked awake by the noise.

_Nants ingonyama bagithi baba _

_Sithi uhhmm ingonyama_

_Ingonyama_

Asher grabbed his glasses from bedside table, before adjusting them on his face. Most of the room mates were covering their ears. Some had just fallen back onto the bed in frustration and a few actually seemed to be enjoying themselves.

_Siyo Nqoba_

_Ingonyama_

_Ingoyama nengwa' enamabala._

The chanting continued on a few more times as Asher and Brice shared a look.

"I forgot." Brice said slightly annoyed

"Same," replied Asher as the song continued.

"They have drums this year."

"And xylophones," Asher noticed. "They're going all out this year." They shared another look as it dawned on them.

"25th anniversary"

_From the day we arrive on the planet._

_And blinking step into the sun. _

_There is more to be seen than can ever be seen_

_More to do than can ever be done._

"You know, I always underestimate the choir every year," Brice admitted as the music continued playing. There were no speakers anywhere, but the song filled the room. It filled the entire castles.

"It's a good alarm clock; although, I'm not sure that I wanted to wake up at sunrise." Asher added. Today was the fifteenth of June. Also known as the anniversary of the day the lion king was released in theaters.

_There is far too much to take in here more to find than can ever be found. _

_But the sun rolling high _

_Through the sapphire sky_

_Keeps great and small on the endless rounds._

"Every Damn Year!" Asher's other roommate moaned trying to drown out the sound with his pillow. "Why? Why can't they just let us sleep?"

_It's the circle of life_

_And it moves us all_

_Through despair and hope_

_Through faith and love_

_Till we find our place!_

_On the path unwinding _

_It's the Circle_

_The Circle of Life._

Brice and Asher sat in their beds listening to the ever so popular song. It's not like they hated it. The school's choir had a lot of amazingly talented voices. It was just that being shocked awake by someone screaming "her comes a lion" in Zulu as the sun began to peak over the horizon pushed people the wrong way.

The first time that this happened Asher wasn't at the school yet. According to his sister—who had been there- it was a group of muggle raised kids (and some half-bloods who had been raised in both worlds) that wanted to celebrate the anniversary of their favorite Disney movie. They had managed to get through the entire song before the professors found them.

The year that followed they got through the entire song again

The third year, the professors were ready.

They hadn't even hit the half way mark when they were cut off.

After that, the students had gotten creative in their hiding places.

_It's the Circle of life!_

_And it moves us all!_

_Through Despair and hope_

_Through faith and love!_

"Oh?" I think they're going make it all the way this year," Asher noted as they started on the final chorus. The year before they had been found and shut down by the teacher's right before the last chorus. It had also been a few years since they had been able to complete the entire song.

_Till we find out place, _

_On the path unwinding _

_It's the Circle_

_The Circle of life!_

"I'm not gonna lie," Brice said when the song came to an end, "That was a broad way worthy performance."

"I'm pretty sure it was Broadway's version of the song."

"The real question is when did they have time to practice this?"

"You know who has an answer to that questions, Brice?"

"Mel." They both said. After that they promptly fell back asleep until they actually needed to wake up. It was a worthy performance, but sleep called them.

When the boys woke up for breakfast they dressed and hurried down to the great hall. As usual the place was already a buzz with activity. Today was the day more flash mobs happened across campus than any other day. So long as the performance was between classes and wasn't really disrupting anyone the professors didn't mind as much. The sunrise performance—needless to say—wasn't appreciated.

Asher and Brice didn't even bother going to their table. They walked right over to the Slytherin table and sat down across from Mel. No one gave them a second glance. While it was still taboo for students to sit at a table other than their own houses, no one really stopped them from doing it. Most people didn't even bother pointing it out or looking when it came to Mel. You could almost always expect someone from a different house to be sitting with her, so two Ravenclaw boys was nothing.

"How did they do it?" Brice asked immediately. No introductions, now "how was your morning, Mel" or "Did you enjoy waking up at sunrise to the 'Circle of life'

"Well, aren't you straight to the point," she joked taking a sip of whatever was in her cup.

"Where's Sulli?"

"Tying up a few loose ends." She answered with a smirk, "Now, what was it you wanted?"

"This year's performance was longer than any other year. Longer performances mean's more time for the teachers to find them."

"Oh, did you like it this year? They went a little out of their comfort zone and did the Broadway version of the song instead of the movie version."

"It was impressive and you are avoiding the question, Mel." Asher informed, "How's they do it?"

"I'm not entirely sure if I'm at liberty to discuss my client's tricks and secrets."

"Look, Mel. We will figure it out one way or another, we just wanted to do it the easy way," Brice explained. "You really think two Ravenclaw super sleuths like us won't be able to solve the mystery behind the practice and performance location? The difference here is will we tell the teachers about what we discovered or not."

"Are you threatening her?" Asher asked quietly glancing at his friend.

"And did you just call yourself a super sleuth?" She added.

"Yes," he looked between the two of them, "To both of those."

"Alright, I admire you're bravado, Brice. I'll tell you, but if I learn that you told anyone else—and trust me when I say I will know about it—you will regret it."

"And now you're threatening me. We've gone the full circle." He joked, "I won't tell anyone. I'm not dumb."

"Obviously. You are friends with Asher. Anyway, the location was the shrieking shack."

"Seriously?" Both boys shared a glance, "That seems far too obvious."

"I think you'd be surprised. There aren't actually that many people who know how to get in and out of there, or about its existence."

"Seems like it." Asher said.

"Right, well thanks for sharing the secret. We won't tell a soul." Brice assured, "Now I'm hungry, let's go eat." Brice practically dragged Asher back to their table so they could eat breakfast before heading to their first class of the day.

* * *

**I didn't really spend a lot of time editing this chapter...for the few people who actually read this, so sorry. I've been really busy lately. College is a struggle. **

**Thanks for reading**

**let me know if you liked the chapter**

**NaturalAthlete**


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